AllFreeNovel
Share Us
After a brief pause, Elden growls, “As we saw, along with the whole Royal Court.”
The iilra captures my attention as she homes in on me, her steps backing me up into the wall of leaves. “We can offer an escape to the light lands. There, you can be hidden among the kuri slaves. It is the best we can offer—and the most you might hope for with that child growing inside of you.”
I blink.
Heart sinking to my bum, I tilt my head to the side, looking between Elden’s hard face and the iilra’s disgusted one.
“Wh-what?” I choke out, my hand lifting to my swelling belly. “I’m ... It’s just my body—”
Elden is the one to cut me off, his voice harder than frozen marble, “To become an iilra, one must be an exceptional dokkalf with greater powers than most. It was sensed the moment you arrived at the Court. You are with his child.” He drags his disgusted stare down to my belly. “Whether my brother loves you or not, you would be a fool to think he would not cut that abomination out of your womb.”
My mind is in shambles, scrambling for any memory of blood from my core that I have stored there. But since coming to the castle, I have not bled, not once.
My breath comes out with a shiver.
I don’t even realise I’m crying until I feel the trail of tears down my cheeks.
“In the light lands, you could be safe long enough to birth and rear the child,” the iilra presses.
I turn my dazed look on her.
“Set a lantern at your window when you have made your decision,” the iilra says. “We will wait only one week before we take matters into our own hands.” I pale to the shade of ash. “We will not allow this child to be born in our land, young human. We do not have to kill you to be rid of it.”
Teary-eyed, I blink and she is gone.
Swerving my stare to the side, I choke on a breath at being left alone with Elden—but he’s vanished too. And it’s just me, standing under the willow tree.
I stagger around in a circle, my vision cloudy with silent tears. My hand hasn’t left my belly.
It’s all too much. It’s all so much.
I sink to the ground, the dampness from the springs cushioning the foliage. Lifting my free hand to my twisting mouth, I release a whimper.
And then I scream.
